The first day comes with fanfare like the first 200 customers will receive a free Bottom Dollar Food reusable bag filled with groceries, according to spokeswoman Tenisha Waldo.

Bottom Dollar Food has been expanding throughout Pennsylvania in the last year. The North Carolina-based sister of grocer Food Lion already has local stores in Allentown, Fountain Hill, Whitehall Township, Lower Nazareth Township, South Whitehall Township and Quakertown.

Bottom Dollar's items are national brands like Kraft, Betty Crocker, Pepsi, Green Giant, Kellogg's and Hebrew National, in addition to its private labels like like Smart Option and Hannaford.

The stores include traditional meat and produce departments. They also have a walk-in cooler and the not-so-luxurious self-bagging feature most discount grocers offer to slim costs.

Bottom Dollar Food is among the wave of discount grocers expanding their footprint in the Lehigh Valley in recent years. Industry experts have said cheap real estate and the sour economy are feeding growth of discount grocers such as ALDI and PriceRite.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Tyrone Richardson is a business reporter at The Morning Call. In this blog, he keeps tabs on the latest developments in the Lehigh Valley retail scene, from the opening of a new, trendy restaurant to the closing of a well-established clothing store. Also a bit of a cheapskate, Tyrone writes about special deals and sales when he stumbles upon them. The blog is a companion to his Retail Watch column, published every Sunday in The Morning Call.